When Kiss was founded in 1973, the rock band’s four original members invented characters that reflected their obsessions. Bassist Gene Simmons—who had been raised on a steady diet of comic books and monster movies—became “the Demon,” a blood-spitting, fire-breathing creature from the land of nightmares.
Guy Denton is a writer based in Washington, D.C., and the co-host of "The Wrong Stuff" podcast with Matt Lewis.
